Jakarta. State-owned fertilizer producer Pupuk Indonesia books a positive growth as State-Owned Enterprise Minister Erick Thohir entered his fourth year of assuming his ministerial post.

Pupuk Indonesia president director Rachmad Pribadi also attributed the growth to the so-called "activist holding role" adoption which strengthens the holding. This is also one of the company's foundations.

"By enhancing the holding's functions, Pupuk Indonesia can spur value creation by aligning multiple strategic functions, including marketing, human capital, distribution, research, information technology, procurement, and so on. All strategic directions from Pupuk Indonesia," Rachmad was quoted as saying in a recent press statement.

Since the business transformation in 2020-2023, Pupuk Indonesia has raised its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (ebitda) uplift by Rp 3.38 trillion. Its consolidated profit also jumped from Rp 2.32 trillion in 2020 to Rp 18.51 trillion in 2022. Rachmad attributed the improving performance to sales of non-subsidized fertilizers.

"This is part of our efforts to boost supply of non-subsidized fertilizers, be it through the Makmur ('Prosper') program, retail management to the development of commercial kiosks," Rachmad said.

The Makmur program sees Pupuk Indonesia establishing an agricultural ecosystem to boost productivity and farmers' income. Pupuk Indonesia helps facilitate farmers' access to affordable non-subsidized fertilizers and provide 

cultivation supervision. Since its launch by SOE Minister Erick Thohir in 2021, the targeted land coverage by the Makmur program has expanded from 50,000 hectares in 2021 to 275,000 hectares in 2023. Pupuk Indonesia also continues to maintain the availability of fertilizer stocks to serve farmers' needs. This stock consists of subsidized and non-subsidized fertilizers. They will be available at all kiosks under Pupuk Indonesia's networks this month.

"If God is willing, we will encourage the 26,000 subsidized fertilizer kiosks to also provide non-subsidized fertilizer, and we'll go all out. About 60 percent of kiosks also provide non-subsidized fertilizer," he added. 

Under SOE Minister Erick Thohir's leadership, Pupuk Indonesia also continued to strengthen digitalization by increasing its distribution capabilities. This effort is carried out by implementing digitalization in various distribution lines, starting from producer warehouses, ports, distribution centers, provincial warehouses, and district warehouses, to distributors and kiosks.

Pupuk Indonesia also partners with the Agriculture Ministry to improve the subsidized fertilizer governance at the kiosks via the digital app i-Pubers. This digitalization will enhance the planning and distribution monitoring

"Not only that, we also continue to improve services to farmers through the use of various technologies, such as precision farming via drones and satellite imagery, to fertilizer recommendations through the Soil Test Car research facility," he said. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Pupuk Indonesia continued to maintain fertilizer supplies to support agricultural productivity to make sure the sector continues to grow positively amidst the economic slowdown. The company also provided assistance to the community, starting from activating the medical oxygen factory, providing personal protective equipment (PPE), vaccines, medicines, and various other social responsibility activities. 

Pupuk Indonesia is also working to increase the downstream petrochemical industry, among others, by developing some of the country's national strategic projects such as the construction of a red and white catalyst factory in Cikampek and a fertilizer industrial area in Fakfak, West Papua. Pupuk Indonesia also still has a number of development plans to increase fertilizer production capacity. Starting from the Pusri-IIIB Project in Palembang, developing NPK fertilizer factories in various regions, to acquiring foreign fertilizer factories close to sources of fertilizer raw materials. 

Pupuk Indonesia also plans to carry out projects that help Indonesia cut emissions by teaming up with strategic partners for the development of blue ammonia, green ammonia, and soda ash, as well as its supporting infrastructure.